ALBAWABA - According to preliminary exit polls published by the Central Election Commission, Vladimir Putin has won the Russian presidential election with a commanding 87.8% of the vote.
In the westernmost part of the Russian Federation, the Kaliningrad region, polls closed at 9:00 PM Moscow time on the final day of the three-day election.
More than 80 regions held voting sessions, using both in-person and online technological voting. There was remote voting in 29 areas, including Moscow, the capital.
With a strong voting participation of more than 74%, Putin was proclaimed the winner, demonstrating the broad support he has among the public.
The exit polls also showed that other candidates received very small percentages of the vote: 4.7% went to Nikolay Haritonov of the Communist Party, 3.6% went to Vladislav Davankov of the New People's Party, and 2.5% went to Leonid Slutskiy of the Liberal Democratic Party. Furthermore, 1.4% of the ballots were declared void.
Ella Pamfilova, the chairperson of the Central Election Commission, described the elections as successful and expressed her satisfaction with the way they were conducted.
With partial results from 27.28% of polling places, Putin's lead held steady at 87.8%; Haritonov came in second at 3.89%, Davankov at 3.79%, and Slutskiy at 2.97%.
The election was seen by 1,115 observers from 129 nations, drawing attention from around the world.
Elections were held in addition to Russia's main land in the annexated areas of Crimea (2014) and the Donetsk, Luhansk, Herson, and Zaporijya regions (2022).
Out of a field of four candidates, Putin, running as an independent with support from the United Russia Party, won. He is anticipated to take the oath of office for his fifth term as President of Russia after the official results are announced.
